Huntsville gazette., 1887-07-09
PICKETT'S CHARGE.
Thr Days of '83 Recalled at Gettysburg,
and This Time the Pennsylvania Boys
Scoop in the Entire Lot-A Grand Fra
ternaI Time Among the Blue and the
Gray Upon the Scene of Their Former

ternaI Time Among the Blue and the
Gray Upon the Scene of Their Former
Encounter.
GETTYSBURG, Pa, July 5.-Just as the
clock in the tower of the county court
house Sunday night sounded the first
stroke of twelve, the midnight stiffness
was broken by the strains from bugle
of 'Way Down Upon the Swanee River"
Scarcely had its notes died away when
the members of the Philadelphia brigade
and Picketts division began the ceie bra
tion of the glorious Fourth with the boom
of cannon on East Cemetery hill, and the
roar Of frecrakers in the town. Pande-
onium regned for an hour and half. No
such noise has disturbed this little village
since the three memorable days of '63.
Yesterday morning at seven O'Clock the
mem bers of Plckett's division proceeded
to the courthouse and were called to
order by Colonel Aylett
Some one proposed that every member
OF the division present should give twen-
ty-fve cents toward paying the expense
which Mrs. Pickett incurred on this visit.
The proposition was accepted with cheers,
and the way the money ratified on the
secretary's desk was a sufficient proof of
the esteem IN which Mrs. Pick EFT is held
by the division.
Resolutions were then adopted, tn INK
ing the Philadelphia brigade for the hos
pitable manner in which they had treated
them, the town authorities for the way
they had received them, the town officials
for the trouble and time they had given
to bringing about this reunion aud all
soldiers for their fraternal greeting.
The meeting then adjourned, and out
side the building they joined in procession
Wy Irahi hY.tn 10 oh
Pic kett man linking arms with Phila-
delphian, the line procended to the Eagle
hotel, where the party took carriages and
started over the battlefield In the first
| carriage were Mrs. General Pickett and
her son George; Mrs Charles Banes, wife
of the commander of the Philadelphia
| brigade, and Colonel Bachelor. Fully
one hundred carriages were in the line
which wended its wag through the dust
of the Emmittsburg road to the Spangler
lane. Into this they turned and procee l.
ed past the farm house to the rising
ground beyond.
Here all alighted and then the word
went round that Mrs. Pickett was going
to hold reception on the very ground
| over which her husbands command had
charged, and within few yards of the
woods under whose cover he, twenty
years before, had formed his division.
| The Pickett men were first formed in line
| AID one by one advanced and were intro
duced to the wife of their old commander
by Colonel Clopton, Of Richmond, Va, by
name, stating their regiment and rank.
She had word for all and all had a word
for her. The Philadelphia brigade was
next presented Her son, George Pickett,
stood at her side and when she dropped
hand it was at once grabbed bv him.
The people then moved to the highest
ground and Colonel Bachelor formed the
survivors of Kemper's, Barnetts and
Armistead's brigade Of Pickett's division
in the order they had been when the
charge began, and asked the commander
of each regiment to step forward and
| point out the position of his command.
| When this was done the party once more
resumed their ride and took the following g
route; Out the Emmitts burg road, along
Sickles' line to the peach orchard, thence
across the bloody wheat field to the
Devils Den Inn," through the
valley of DEATH" along the base Of
Round Top, thence by the battlefield ave-
nue. along the Union line post, the UNI
brella copse Of trees at which Hancock
fell wounded by Bloody Angle" the
! "hgh water mark of the rebellion past
National cemetery, and entered the town
by the Baltimore pike, over which the
Union troops retreated after the bloody
stru ggle of the first day.
Mrs. Pickett was the center of attrac-
ton on the field. She had gathered som e
daisies and a mum ber Of the brigade asked
| her for a few. She gave them with a
smile, and one by one they were given
away to be treasured as mementoes. Her
autograph was also eagerly sought, and
she refused no one.
Geo. Pickett showed the Associated
| Press cores spondent the watch his father
carried during the charge. Itis melium-
sized gold one, with the stars and stripes
and the stars and bars crossed on the lid:
on the inside are the names Of the battles
in which he participated in the Mexican
war.
To say that Pickett's men are pleased
would be putting it lightly. They are de-
lighted with every thing and every body.
In the words of a Confederate soldier:
''We are pleased all to pieces, but Cowan
this time has captured us body and souln
While the band was playing a medley
of Confederate and Union war songs as
the veterans were starting on their ride
over the field, it struck up .Y ankee
Doodle Instantly rebel yell and n
Union cheer showed that the war song Of
their fathers above all others had touched
| a sympathetic chord in the breasts of
! both.
Last evening religious service was
| held In the absence OF the chaplain, Rev.
j. K. Demorest was asked to speak before
gathering of Picl1ett's m en, mainly at
! the courthouse. He spoke to them on the
subject of the day. How much the liberty
and brotherly feeling characterize tic of
our land should endear it to all citizens.
Last evening Mrs. Pickett held a recep-
tion at the Pickett division headquarters,
and for an hour shook the hand of every
one presented to her. Immediately after
the reception she was serenaded by the
Grand Army of the Republic band. The
Pickett men then adjourned to the garden
! of the house where the Sixty ninth Penn
sylvania men were holding forth. Speech
making and toast offerings were then the
order till late in the night.
| Cowan's battery and the Wheeler Rifles
departed at nine o'clock, and some Of the
Philadelphia brigade also left for their
home. The Pi ckett division left at four
o'clock this NOR ming. and the remaining